


Examine

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-10-31
Updated: 2005-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-19 01:42:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12400509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: The sorting of Narcissa Black





	Examine

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

**_Examine_ **   
**By 407**   
**__**

**__**

**__**

**A/N:** For some reason I used italics instead of speech marks. Don’t ask.

  
♥  
♥  
♥  
♥

****

My name was called by the woman, not sure what her name was. On autopilot, I stepped out of my position in the long line of first years and made my way up to that old, rickety stool, my heart beating faster than it ever had before. Why was it doing that? 

 

As I made my way up to the front, ignoring that horrible feeling that you get when you know that everyone’s watching you, I eyed the stool in trepidation. I know that I really didn’t have any choice — I had to sit on that stool. But really, did it have to be so old? What if it collapsed as soon as I sat down?

 

I almost stopped walking, right then, but I realised that, had I done so, I would have looked like an idiot. So I kept walking — it seemed like I had been walking forever. 

 

But what would the hat say? It would have a chance to look into the deepest caverns of my soul. I did not like the thought of a hat (a Gryffindor hat no less) searching and sifting through my inner-most thoughts and examining my whole person. In fact, it really made me very uncomfortable. Would it just try and find the traits in me that would define where I was sorted, or would it really _examine_ me? 

 

Because I had no intention of being examined.

 

Not my insides, not my outside, not at all. That was why I didn’t ever hurt myself or become seriously ill. I was not going to any hospital to be poked and prodded and _examined_.

 

When I finally did put the hat on, I did so very reluctantly. Most people were relieved once they had found out that all they had to do to get sorted was to try on a hat. Obviously this wasn’t the case for me.

 

Not that I was scared because I wasn’t. A hat would not frighten me. It couldn’t.

 

It’s just that I was far more…apprehensive than anyone else seemed to be. 

 

It’s not my fault that the idea of my deepest, darkest thoughts and my personality, as it was then and nothing more, nothing less, being _examined_ did not appeal to me.

 

Not that there was anything wrong with me. I knew that. 

 

It’s just that they say that ignorance is bliss. If there was something wrong with me, I’d rather not know and have to worry about it all of the time.

 

Not that I was under suspicion that anything was wrong with me.

 

_Another Black…_

__

A soft but booming voice broke me out of my reverie. 

 

I blinked at the unnecessary remark. Maybe this hat wasn’t so smart.

 

_…Oh no, do not underestimate me._

__

I did not like this…it was listening in on my thoughts. My thoughts were my own, private. What right did this hat have to invade upon them?

 

_In order to sort you, I must_ invade _, I’m afraid_.

 

I wanted to roll my eyes. Why couldn’t this hat just get on with it, do the job it was supposed to do?

 

_As you wish._

__

For a fleeting second I realised how insane it was to be having a conversation with a hat, but my thoughts were quickly stopped as more words echoed around my head eerily.

 

_Intelligent. Most intelligent, but heavily underestimated._

__

I could agree with that, at least. I was the youngest Black sister. ‘Bella and Andromeda were both Slytherins — ‘Bella was the oldest, had all of the influence. Andromeda had the brains. Then there was me. The pretty one, I had been told. That’s what I was. A pretty face, a pushover, the baby. Maybe Andromeda envied me my looks; maybe ‘Bella envied me my ability to get what I wanted. But I envied them. They would never know how much. People took them seriously. People expected them to be great, to do something incredible with their lives.

 

People expected me to look pretty.

 

_Yes._

__

Again, that voice stopped my train of thought — its habit of doing that was becoming most annoying.

 

_You might do well in Ravenclaw, but I don’t think so._

Good. I wanted to be a Slytherin, like the rest of my family had been. 

_A Slytherin?_ _You certainly have the ambition, maybe not the cunning._

__

And I thought I was intelligent…

 

_There is a difference._

__

Again, the insanity of the situation hit me and I almost laughed out loud.

 

_Yes, Slytherin could be a good house for you. However, you wouldn’t be completely out of place in Hufflepuff…_

__

Again, I almost laughed. Hufflepuff was for the duffers, I had been told. Only idiots went to Hufflepuff.

 

In fact, people probably half-expected me to get into there.

 

_You’re loyal beyond measure, although you lack the real ability to do any hard-work._

__

I didn’t know how to take that…should I be complimented?

 

_No, I believe that Slytherin would be the best house for you._

__

I smiled slightly. I’d show all of those people who saw me as nothing more than the baby of the Black sisters. 

 

_Yes, you belong in_ SLYTHERIN!

 

The last word resounded around the Great Hall and people started to clap loudly. I took the hat off of my head and smothered my blonde hair down onto my head, hoping that I hadn’t gotten hat hair — I would look a bit stupid. Slowly, I made my way over to the table applauding the loudest, the Slytherin table, glancing at my cousin, Sirius who stood in the line, also just about to be sorted. My eyes then moved back onto my destination, where I could see my two sisters smiling widely, clapping loudly. They were proud of me. 

 

_Knew you could do it,_ they said to me. _Mother and Father will be so pleased._

__

I smiled back at my sisters, only glad that my sorting was over. I did not like that hat — too smart, too arrogant, and too ‘all-knowing’ for my tastes. 

 

_Black, Sirius,_ the old lady said and I sat down at the long Slytherin table, waiting for my cousin to come a join us.

 

  
♥  
♥  
♥  
♥


End file.
